Ponagar Tower

Photos Ponagar Tower

Information Ponagar Tower

The Cham Ponagar Tower

Ponagar
Tower is located in Nha Trang, Khanh Hoa province, two kilometers from
the city center on a 20m high hill looking out over the sea. The tower
was built 900 or 1,000 years ago as a religious structure by the Cham
people and the culture of the Cham is infused in the architecture and
sculpture that make up the tower. Standing through the ages with
historical events flowing around it, Ponagar Tower exists alongside
four other architectural works. The site is located on Cu Lao Hill and
it’s divided into two sections: the Mandaga area and the tower area.
The Ponagar Tower became a nationally recognized historic site of
cultural value on April 29, 1979.

The 1,100 square meter Mandaga area runs mostly east to west and
consists of four rows of brick pillars. There is no wall surrounding
the pillars but there is the roof that is made of plant materials. The
pillars are made of large bricks that are water-resistant and upon
which moss does not grow. Historians believe that maybe the Cham people
did preparatory religious practices in the Mandaga area before a main
activity at the tower. The 36 steps that one used to have to climb to
reach the tower from the Mandaga are slippery in bad weather. That old
path is now badly deteriorated and another path of more than 100 stone
steps can be used.

After climbing those 100 steps, one reaches the tower. It is the
largest (23 meters) and most beautiful in Khanh Hoa province. The
bricks structure has three floors and at each level it gets smaller. At
the base of the tower are five rows of pillars along the wall; on the
upper levels are figures of animals. One gate, facing east, opens into
the tower while three false gates will not give one access.

On the upper part of the functional gate is a stone bias relief
depicting the goddess Uma with four hands, standing on the back of the
sacred cow Nandin with a musician on either side. The relief is
supposed to have been made in 1050. There are two rows of stone pillars
with many epigraphs next to the main gate. From these epigraphs we have
learned what we know about the ancient Cham kingdom (a stele at the
site says that the tower was built from 813-817 and was rebuilt in the
11 and 12 centuries).

Inside the tower is a square temple area and a statue of Uma (the
wife of Shiva, also called Po Inu Nagar). This is the main figure at
the tower. The figure is standing on a lotus, at her back a stone plate
with figures carved on both sides. The figure is female with bare
breasts and 10 hands. The goddess is a mother with full breasts and
stretch marks on her stomach attesting to prior childbirth. This statue
was is thought to have been made in 1050 under the dynasty of King Jaya
Paramesvaravarman. The Cham people worshiped the goddess Ponagar at
this site and it is thought to have been the most important religious
site of the Cham people.

Since 1953, large numbers of Buddhist Kinh people (the dominant
ethnic culture in Vietnam) moved onto these lands and lived alongside
the Hindu Cham people who remained. They did learn something about the
Hindu gods and understood that the Cham people worshiped their gods at
these towers. The Kinh people, having their own culture, later created
the Thien Y A Na legend to explain the existence of the towers. Since
that time, every year on March 23 of the lunar calendar is the Ponagar
Tower Feast Day. This is now the largest traditional feast in the
south-central region. The relic site represents to the Cham people
their culture and traditional values and to the newcomers, the Kinh
people, it represents the manner in which Kinh people live amongst
those of other cultures. The result is a form of national unity and
solidarity among the people of Vietnam.